$150,000 bill tops list of phone complaints

Date: December 13 2012

Adrian Lowe

It's an eye-popping figure: $147,908 for a mobile phone bill.

And it's not the only one that seems too staggering to believe, according to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman. He says some phone customers travel overseas, only to find a phone bill more expensive than their trip upon their return.

After the ombudsman got involved, the bill was reduced to reflect Australian charges only - $1147. But other consumers have also complained to the ombudsman's office about bills of $38,000 and $18,000.

The six-figure bill near $150,000 belonged to a woman who went on a nine-week trip to Europe. She told ombudsman Simon Cohen that she had arranged a special plan while she was away, but it failed to come through in time.

The three bills were among $8 million worth of disputed global roaming charges between July 2011 and last September.

The figures are revealed in the ombudsman's quarterly report, released on Thursday.

The number of complaints has decreased, Mr Cohen said.

Many are about mobile services and bills of more than $5000.

The number of new complaints decreased by almost 19 per cent, he said, between April and June this year, and fell another 11 per cent between July and September.

“Complaints about customer service, complaint handling and billing have reduced, which is good news for consumers and service providers alike,” Mr Cohen said in a statement.

“The challenge will be to keep up this positive trend over the summer months, when demand for new services and products is high.”

Mr Cohen's office reported that the postcode with the most complaints was Docklands in Melbourne, with 4.9 for every 1000 people. Parramatta in Sydney followed, with 4.7 complaints per 1000 people.

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